Chapter Text
"Thank you."
A small tilt of the head- then a dramatic sigh.
"That. Is the seventh time you've said thank you."
Shadow Milk huffs, floating in the direction of the Faerie Kingdom. Pure Vanilla walks alongside him, his staff making a sort of clanking noise as he walks. This path was very familiar to Pure Vanilla, however, Shadow Milk didn't have any knowledge of it, probably because it was completely surrounded by trees. White Lily had given Pure Vanilla this shortcut a while back.
Pure Vanilla chuckles, half placing his hand over his mouth as if he were embarrassed. Shadow Milk angerly side-eyes him, taking notice of the moonlight shining on Pure Vanilla's face just perfectly. Shadow Milk raises a brow before speaking:
"First, you beg me to be your friend. Then, you beg me to be your boyfriend. Now? Now you beg me to get dragged into the very place I hate to meet the very cookie I despise." Shadow Milk waves his staff around while he talks, pointing it this way for that, that way for this, etc. Pure Vanilla gains a slight blush on his dough watching and hearing Shadow Milk falsely walk through the situation. The purest cookie alive would never beg for such things, but he'll let Shadow Milk have his fun.
There is a breeze about as cold as Antarctica's fly through as they near the end of the sketchy path. Shadow Milk flops over mid-air, releasing a groan of relief.
"Thank the Witches! I thought for sure the Boogieman was gonna' pop out at us." Shadow Milk turns to Pure Vanilla, who is on the verge of laughing, and lunges at his face while holding his hands up like claws- topped off with a loud and very real sounding roar. Pure Vanilla stumbles back, stabilizing himself with his staff. He finally laughs, pushing his soft vanilla hair behind his ear. "Shadow Milk! You almost gave me a heart attack!"
All of a sudden, Shadow Milk darts towards the seal as it comes into view. It glows ever so bright in the dark night. Pure Vanilla watches him approach the tree and stare. Makes sense, in a way, for him to react like this.
Pure Vanilla settles down behind a tree at the end of the shortcut they just took. Better let Shadow Milk have a moment of thinking- and, not to mention, Pure Vanilla was awfully tired.
Shadow Milk analyzes the branches, the trunk, the bark- at this point, he might as well observe the molecules that make up that seal. The dim light pulses ever-so-slightly. He glides his fingers over it. It was like no one was ever in there. No chains, no pain, no suffering. Just... Wood.
Shadow Milk slaps himself. Come on, wood? Of course it's wood. What a being of knowledge he is.
Shadow Milk snaps his head down. A sharp pain in his foot radiates compared to the rest of his untouched dough. Oh. It's a branch of the silver tree. Wait a second... Who stabbed his foot with a branch of the silver tree?-
"Shadow Milk Cookie."
A very small, but very brave voice rings out from behind the nearby trees. "I need to talk with you, please."
White Lily Cookie. She is the new guardian, obviously she was the one who grew a branch out of the ground and shoved it through Shadow Milk's foot. New question- why? Hadn't Pure Vanilla convinced her to give Shadow Milk a chance? They were dating anyways.
White Lily drips of sweet sweat down her face. She clenches her staff like it's a lifeline- holding it just above the ground to properly get a hold of its magic. She steps forward. "I'm afraid. I'm scared for Pure Vanilla and the future of earthbread. I've tried- so, so hard to trust you- but after what happened with..." She trails off, getting clearly shaken up. Meanwhile, Shadow Milk was slowly being consumed by branches.
"I need to protect him. I won't let what happened to Elder Faerie repeat. I hope you understand." White Lily lifts her staff high in the air- but not before Shadow Milk rips through half of the branches consuming him. "You really need to work on your trusting skills, flower power." She squeaks. That wasn't supposed to happen. No... What if Pure Vanilla finds out? Will he hate her? Leave her? Just like how Golden Cheese did? "Hellooo? Earthbread to greying granny?" No, no, no, no, no! Stop!
"Get out of my head!" White Lily strikes her staff forward, straight at Shadow Milk.
There is a moment of sounds of dread filling her ears- then it's over.
He topples over as all branches retreat into the tree/ground. He's gone before he meets the grass. A large, gaping hole where his Soul Jam used to be is the source for all of the blueberry jam flooding the ground. His hair melts a little. The last fragment of the Soul Jam reflects light, seeable from its spot about a foot away from Shadow Milk's hand, which was extended in front of him on the dirt.
What had she done. What did she do? She didn't mean to. She rushes over to Shadow Milk's body, leaning down and hovering her hands over his wound. "I- I'm so, so sorry! I didn't- I don't-!" A small rustling of bushes and trees from behind her. A gasp.
"White Lily...? What did you do? Is that..." Pure Vanilla steps forward, dropping his staff and covering his mouth. "Shadow Milk Cookie!" He runs in the direction of White Lily and Shadow Milk's body. White Lily holds her hands up, calling "Stop! Wait, please I need to- please!" She felt herself slipping into the state in which she couldn't control herself again. It was too much. Too much weight slamming into her fragile shoulders at once.
What will she do with herself?
"Pure Vanilla..." A tear lands on Pure Vanilla's dough. White Lily holds his shaking body in a way so careful and warming it was hard remembering if he was okay or not.
Obviously, he was not.
How could she have repeated the exact same thing again? Only, Pure Vanilla had healing magic, so that kept him alive a little longer. All the more time to suffer in pain.
White Lily sniffs, running a hand over his shaking one. "I didn't mean for any of this! What can I do make this right?..." White Lily mumbles. Pure Vanilla can only see a blur, but he still smiles. "I have- just one thing for you t- to do, my dear friend." He takes his shaking hand and grasps White Lily's. "Can you..." He pauses, thinking.
"Can you make two cookies from me and Shadow Milk's dough?"